diff --git a/qobject/json-parser.c b/qobject/json-parser.c
index 0e232ff101..b77931614b 100644
--- a/qobject/json-parser.c
+++ b/qobject/json-parser.c
@@ -54,13 +54,13 @@ static void GCC_FMT_ATTR(3, 4) parse_error(JSONParserContext *ctxt,
 {
     va_list ap;
     char message[1024];
+
+    if (ctxt->err) {
+        return;
+    }
     va_start(ap, msg);
     vsnprintf(message, sizeof(message), msg, ap);
     va_end(ap);
-    if (ctxt->err) {
-        error_free(ctxt->err);
-        ctxt->err = NULL;
-    }
     error_setg(&ctxt->err, "JSON parse error, %s", message);
 }